NHS updating guidance on single-sex hospital accommodation after EHRC release

[Whatchamacallitt]

The NHS has announced it is updating it's guidance in light of the EHRC guidance being released. The new guidance will be called Privacy, dignity and safety in hospital accommodation. Here's hoping this is the beginning of the end of male patients in female hospital wards and male staff in female changing rooms and toilets.

That NHS update is a massive fluffy word salad. The regret and sadness is very quietly implicit.

I am in NZ. My aunt has severe, advanced dementia. She cannot remember what happened 10 minutes ago. She is currently in a mixed-sex hospital ward. There is a man in the bed across from her.

I voted "unsure" but it's probably more a "no". They will find the loopholes.

I last worked for the NHS 10 years ago and management was very, very careful to maintain single sex wards. There were periods where the female ward was full and the male only 40%, but no female bed meant no female beds. I'm not sure what that hospital is like now, but it is in a Trust with mental health hospitals, so depends if the old matron is still there. I can't see her allowing mixed wards.

There is no suggestion that Trusts might abandon trying to defend ongoing or upcoming tribunal discrimination cases.

I've read more NHS policies than I care to count including a couple that have been updated since the SCJ. I am sure they will continue to obfuscate and use weasel words to deny women truly single sex spaces.

I was one of the few optimists. It’s the law for pity’s sake. Surely surely they have to do it now?

Hmm, I shall reserve judgement until I read it. Up to now, the NHS has prided itself on being spectacularly outside the law.

We’ve not seen any Trusts concede at Tribunal with staff even though it’s obvious that they GC win rate is 2-3 times higher than for other cases.

We’ve had news articles about patients being harmed and staff cover ups/obstruction of the police.

But… Just the other week NHSE lost spectacularly on the FayeCR case. The GLP made binding case law in the High Court against their own side.

The long awaited EHRC guidance is now out and everyone’s claiming they still need to wait another 40 days to get lawful…

The one updated Trust policy I’ve seen is based on single sex wards for males and TIM inclusive for Womens single sex spaces… it’s language is so mangled that even though it’s obviously wrong non lawyers are worried about calling it out

Do i think NHSE will protect women’s rights? Maybe but probably not -
I think there will be some progress and some absolutely ridiculous highjinks to avoid being completely lawful. Then we need to get them sued

NHSE is being shut down, with massive redundancies. I can’t imagine this will be anywhere near the top of their HR department’s to do list, even assuming they still have enough qualified people left to run an HR department.

The original guidance was from the Department of Health, by the Chief Nursing Officer. I think that’s the route that a Secretary of State for Health would use, if they wanted to provide legal clarity and give themselves a bit of political cover. That way the guidance would have professional (nursing) backing rather than a more political Secretary of State letter.

I’m hoping that’s the plan - just leaving it will be horribly expensive and unpleasant for the individuals who have to fight legally Trust by Trust, and will waste a lot of NHS time and money.

It will make it easier for people to sue. They will not want to continue with tribunals but if they do they will lose, so really however sadfaced they do it, they have to uphold the rights of women and girls.

I still believe, given how beholden the NHS are to activists, they would prefer to lose in court so they can say "wasn't us, they made us do it." However, I can't see the Powers That Be or insurers are going to be happy to keep throwing money down the toilet indefinitely. And the optics are terrible.